St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-09-17
THE BLACK CABINET,
WHY TELEGRAMs sENT1N FRANCE
ARE NOT SECRET.
The bureau Organized Under the Empire
sun in ExIstence-How Press Matter for
America is Csed by French Papers
Women's Dress-GeneraI Paris Gossip


thio.-I He french press IS rattle
ancient, and understands but little O
lhe enterprise and smartness DISPLAYED
daily IN the really well-newspaperet
countries Of the world At times, how
ever, some of the old-fashioned Pari.
Journals astonish their readers by print
ing matters Of decidedly private anc
CONFIDENTIAL chalaCter-as, for instance
a telegram or letter which both sender
and receiver may have religiously KEEP,
secret. These exposures are generally
due to the agency of what used to be
known as the BLACK Cabinet" So il
happened that day or two ago NJ Lat
SAINT, Radical deputy, wrote letter to sew
eral Paris papers complaining that a
private telegram sent him by General
Boulanger had been published. This, he
argued, must have occurred with the CON
nivance of the government, which is the
sole telegraph company in France. There
was BLACK Cabinet" under the empire
! for the inspection of both kilograms and
letters, but the government Of national
defense modified it into "confdential
central bureau" into which should be
sent all telegraphic communications re-
lallng to the movements of armies and
other matters, both at home and abroad
This bureau was organized by NJ.
Steenackers, the then grand master of
posts and telegraphs, now deputy for
Haute-Marne; it resembled the imperial
institution, but was not to NEEDLE with
politics. This new bureau, called
The serrlce oGicial, exists unchanged at
the present time. Enthusiastically, it
is under the orders of the minister of
posts and telegraphs, but executive1y it
is ruled by the minister of the interior
IN virtue Of the General Safety Law"
and by the presidency of the council of
ministers in all that concerns the trans
mission Of adviccs and summonses to at
tend the council-board. The service offcieI
forwards all orders, either in ordinary
language or in cipher, to all the projects,
generals, admirals, diplomatic agents,
magistrates, police, &c, and it is held re-
sponsible for mistakes and delays Allthe
official messages passing between public
tunctlonarles in the departments and the
government offices in Paris are central
ICED at the official service bureau, and
when elections are going on the instru-
ments disgorge hundreds of yards of
tape The President of the republic
has a special telegraph service which fur
nishes him daily with duplicates of all
kilograms relating to politics; and the
anne thing is done for the president of the
council in regard to all messages which
come into France, leave France or simply
cross France, and whether they be ad-
dressed to heads of legations, to newspa-
pers, to bankers or to private individu-
ais The minister of the interior has
similar means of prying into everybodys
business. When the powers that
be think fit to intercept wire"
the sender, if he can be found, simply
receives back the money paid, whilst the
person to whom the telegram was ad-
dressed gets no official communication
whatever.
Press kilograms pass through the Off
cial service bureau before they reach the
newspapers, and copy is made of each. |
Every morning the originals of kilograms |
sent from Paris by the correspondents /
Of the New York Herald, the London ,
Times, Standard, and Daily Neus, as well
IS OF the French provincial papers, are
gatheredtogether and mounted
Republican guard takes them in bag to
The ministry of the interior. There, par
Ltcularly if the chef d,4 cabinet be in
good humor, its contents are literally
served out 10 hungry reporters repre-
'enting the Paris evening papers, which
II this way get quite harvest of news
not more than twenty-tour hours old.
Fhe great Havas agency man finds lots
If precious messages from Egypt OF
elsewhere which the Herald or Times cor
received, incorporated and
ent by special wire to their newspapers
he previous evening. AT noon all this
Geographic refuse goes to the ministry OF
oreign affairs, where it is again dis
tCtcu. NlOScu 1cllGIS arr not always |
nvolate in their passage through the
,ost, if | may believe certain informants,
Who say that skilled inquisitors will slit
he edge of the envelope with keen in
trument and afterward close it by means
f invisible gum. Thus nothing would
ppear to be sacred or unknowable un-
7ss written in cunning cipher.
The national fete is over peaceably,
he gentlemen who talk at the Palais-
bourbon have been let out of school for
1eir holidays, and everybody who can
as torsaken or is forsaking hot and
usty Paris for the watering-places.
lany members of the American colony
'mained longer than usual in town this t
ear, and the fashionable Gil Bias put it I
n record that in spite of the warm t
Gather 1.-The American high-life" had
zen trying to effect the impossible. This
as said in reference to dance the
her evening at the residence of Mrs. L
ordon, in the Boulevard Richard Wal '.
&c. The salons and conservatory were q
Illuminated with the electric ii
5ht, and crowd of young and pretty te
omen belonging to the foreign colony ii
ere present. Mrs. Thornton, wife Of n